What passes as a rigorous case study?

1. What passes as a rigorous case study? Navjot Sandhu Carleton Unversity Ttmg 5004 Dr. Stoyan Tanev

2. Case Studies and Journals • Case studies are used as tools for generating and testing theories • We look at top 10 leading journals and criteria to define a well done case study • Internal validity • External validity • Construct Validity • Reliability

3. Criteria • Internal Validity- causal relationship between variables and results (logical reasoning) • External Validity- Theories must be shown to account for phenomena not only in the setting in which they are studied, but also in other settings • Construct Validity- Quality of conceptualization (choosing what variables to analyze) • Reliability- absence of error. This allows other researchers to follow the same steps of the experiment done

4. What should be valid? • Different types of validity build up on each other and can support one another • Many schools of thought arguing that some types of validity should not be included in research analysis

5. Sampling • Theories were constructed by the authors and an experiment was completed on validity use in journals • 5 Hypothesis are used • Case studies that provide secondary reports on reliability are more likely also to provide secondary reports on construct validity, internal validity, and external validity • Case studies published in the highest-ranked journals are more likely to provide primary reports on internal validity than papers published in lower-ranked journals. • Case studies published in the highest-ranked journals are more likely to provide secondary reports on internal validity than papers published in lower-ranked journals. • Case studies published in the highest-ranked journals are more likely to provide reports on construct validity than papers published in lower-ranked journals. • Case studies published in the highest-ranked journals are more likely to provide secondary reports on construct validity than papers published in lower-ranked journals.

6. Results • In this paper, papers were looked at in the 10 leading journals • Out of 159, only 2 primary reports were on construct validity and 5 on internal validity • For most of the studies, a significant amount of attention is payed to external validity • However, the top 3 management journals pay more attention to internal validity and construct validity and little on external validity

7. Results(continued) • Seems top 3 journal authors not only know about the different types of validity, but also the relationships amongst them

8. References • Gibbert, M. and Ruigrok ,W. and Wicki, B. Research Notes and Commentaries: What passes as a rigorous case study? 2008 Strategic Management Journal: #29